Happy New Year! As we begin 2021, goal-setting is a main focus for many of us. Culture tempts us to find our unique niche and pursue our destiny or what will fulfill our dreams. As a result, our New Year’s resolutions can often reflect self-focused motives rather than Christ-centered ones. Join Leslie Ludy this week as she unpacks how to set goals for our lives in a truly Christ-honoring way.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
We live in a world that encourages us to reach our full potential and chase our dreams, but when our world is preoccupied with those messages, it is easy for our own souls to be consumed with personal fulfillment and self-discovery without realizing it. And, if we’re not careful, every time a new year rolls around, it is these messages that can slip into the place for becoming the motive for our goal-setting.
If we want to have a godly approach to goal-setting, we must uncover God’s perspective on setting goals in the first place, as it’s very different from the culture’s. Practical, specific goals can be helpful, but even these must support that which is of an eternal focus in our lives and be led and shaped by the Spirit of God.
God’s Perspective for Reaching Our Potential and Uncovering Our Perspective
The Apostle Paul actually never reached his full potential according to the worlds standards. God’s Word says that while he had an impressive resume, Paul chose to count his achievements as rubbish and suffered the loss of all things so that He could gain Christ and be found in Him. (Read Philippians 3:4–10.)
Like the Apostle Paul, we must realize that there is no greater fulfillment, purpose, and destiny then knowing our King and being shaped into His likeness. That is the Christian’s true destiny.
God has gifted us with unique personalities, gifts, and talents so that we can surrender them back to Him so that He can use them and spend them for His glory, not our own. Christ exemplified this when He came to earth. He chose to surrender His natural talents and abilities as the Son of God and was born as a baby who grew up to live among us and take the position of a humble servant.
The key to reaching our potential is to begin asking a new question. Instead of asking “Who am I?” ask “Who is He?” When we find our identity in Him, our goals will naturally be shaped around who we are in Him.
Three Practicals for Adopting a Godly Goal-Setting Strategy
- Set the Right Goals — Surrender your vision, desires, and focus to see what God is leading you towards. A principle that Eric and I use is, “Splurge on the sacred, skimp on the secular, and starve the profane.” This principle can apply to time, focus, and goal-setting.
- Receive His Enabling Grace to Accomplish Those Goals — Remember that whatever God leads you to do, He will also give you the supernatural strength to live it out. Sometimes it can be difficult to set a spiritual goal because we are fearful of becoming legalistic, but receiving the enabling grace of God will guard us from doing things in our own strength and for the wrong reason.
- Adopt the Right Heart-Motives — Are your goals merely for self-advancement or Kingdom advancement?
Helpful Scriptures from this episode
Jn. 12:24
